Another ‘Black’ Man Died In Police Custody


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Here we go again another media report regarding the death of a 20-year-old Black man who died one hour after he was wrestled to the ground and apprehended by police officers.

The incident happened in Dalston, East London, occur on the 22 of July and since then there have been demonstrations on the streets of Hackney that prompted the family of the man that died to ask for peaceful demonstrations because they do not believe that justice will be served if demonstrators burn down buildings or cause unnecessary criminal actions.

This is becoming an increasing cause for concern among minority communities, especially in the wake of an inquest by Black and Minority Ethnic (Bame).  The casework showed that most of the individuals that die in or following police custody are from black and minorities communities. The report further states that since 1990, there have been 9 unlawful killing verdicts by juries in respect of deaths involving the police.

The number of people arrests by UK police on a daily basis must run into hundreds, but what is hard to comprehend is why it is always Blacks that seem to lose their lives on a regular basis. It is like for a Black person to come in contact with the police is detrimental to their well-being because of the possibility that they could die.

I am a mother of two boys and although they are not involved with any criminal activities I am certainly still afraid that they could be stopped by the police and the next thing that I hear is that my child is dead, every member of the ethnic minority community must be feeling extremely concern for their children.

In my opinion, I have to ask the question, is the UK police killing off our young people during apprehension or arrest, or is there a simple answer as to why these young people or dying in police custody.  We need to know and I hope that this recent death will allow the Independent Police Complaint Commission to undertake a no holds bar investigation irrespective of where the answers may take us. 

We need to know the why’s in order that we can effectively address the problem, if there is one, to ensure that no other young person lost their lives if they or either apprehend or taking into custody by the police.